Frankie sat on his bed and watched Seth prowl his room like a caged tiger. His cousin was tugging at his dark curls so hard that Frankie was afraid that he’d pull his hair out in patches. “I can’t take it,” he was muttering, his voice strained and desperate. “I need to get laid, Frankie!”

Frankie had to admit that he was shocked that his cousin had managed to hold out for this long. But he’d seen the proof on his laptop screen every night when he transferred the pictures that Seth had taken on the cell phone to a file folder that he could show Jordan. Pictures of a solitary Seth sitting on the couch in the living room, or a bench in the Mall of America, or standing in his bedroom…no other guys in sight, clothes on, no signs of any kind of sexual activity taking place.

But Seth was paying for his control. He was snappish, surly, twitchy, and sometimes savage when he talked to his family. Though he was normally shockingly lazy, he’d taken up helping Adam around Hard Acre as a way to work off some of his pent-up sexual energy. He’d trail in each evening looking exhausted and strained, and slump in his chair at the table picking at his food listlessly. Frankie was worried about him; Seth had visibly lost weight, and appeared to be trying to work himself to death. He was thinking about talking to Jordan about this ridiculous bet if something didn’t change soon. He didn’t want Seth to be hurt in his drive to show up Jordan.

It had been two and half weeks so far, and Seth was visibly losing it. Tonight he’d stormed into Frankie’s room and had interrupted his studying, to pace back and forth while muttering to himself. Now he stopped in his tracks, whirling on Frankie. “Listen, Frankie, you have to help me,” he pleaded.

“What do you want me to do?” Frankie asked warily.

He was right to be wary. “Please, Cuz; just let me do you. Once, that’s all I ask. Just once,” Seth said, holding out his hands. “I won’t tell your stud if you don’t tell Jordan. Please, Frankie!”

Looking at his wild eyes and the grimace that twisted his mouth, Frankie felt a spurt of pity rush through him. But… “No, Seth,” he replied firmly. “I can’t do that. I’m not going to cheat on Caleb just to give you some sexual relief. Go jerk off or something.”

“That’s not enough!” Seth wailed, pulling at his hair some more. “Don’t you think that I already do that? All the time, every day! But it doesn’t help! Come on, Frankie, I’m dying here!”

“You’re not dying, Seth. Stop being so overdramatic,” Frankie said in exasperation. “If it’s that bad, go get laid and concede the bet to Jordan. He doesn’t expect you to be able to go through with it anyway, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I hate his guts,” Seth snapped, his eyes flaming and full of rage. “I just want to show him up, that’s all. Then I’m going to fuck his ass and punch him in the mouth - maybe not in that order.”

Frankie kept is mouth shut and didn’t point out that he strongly suspected that if any ass-fucking took place, it would be Jordan doing it. That would only piss Seth off even more. “Look, you have to decide what’s most important here,” he said aloud. “Getting even with Jordan or getting laid? If it’s the second thing, then go out right now and pick somebody up. If it’s the first thing, then get used to being celibate. Those are your only two choices, and you know it.”

Seth glared at him, but then went back to pacing. “You suck, Frankie,” he groused.

He laughed. “No, you only WISH that I did,” he teased. When Seth threw him a murderous look, he only grinned. “I feel sorry for you, Seth, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to get some amusement out of this whole situation, too. Sorry.”

Seth shrugged. “Hell, if it was you I’d be laughing my ass off,” he growled. “Fuck.” he scrubbed at his forehead with his hand, clearly thinking hard. Then he stopped in his tracks, saying slowly: “I’m already halfway through, right?”

“Yeah. More than halfway, actually,” Frankie tried to sound encouraging.

“So if I give up now, it just means I’m a pussy,” Seth continued.

“Well, I don’t know about that…”

“It does,” Seth replied flatly. “Besides, I’ve just got to remember how much I hate that guy Jordan. That’ll help more than anything.”

Frankie silently wondered if Seth hadn’t mistaken something else for hatred, but kept these thoughts to himself. Now was not the time to point certain things out to his beleaguered cousin. “So you want to keep going?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yes, damn it! I’ll do it, then I’ll spit in his face. Motherfucker!” Seth snarled. He pulled out the phone and tossed it at Frankie. “There. Put those pictures on your computer,” he said tightly.

“Okay. Give me a minute,” Frankie pulled out the tiny memory card and transferred it to his laptop, so that he could save the day’s pictures for Jordan to look at later.

After a moment’s silence, Seth abruptly said: “Do you think that I can do this, Frankie?”

Surprised, he glanced up. “Well, I didn’t really think you’d be able to at first,” he admitted. “I never thought you’d be able to go for over two weeks without sex. But you have. So now I think that you can do it, Seth. But don’t push yourself too hard,” he added worriedly. “If you hurt yourself, you won’t be able to have sex with anybody, let alone Jordan. Right?”

“You have a point, cuz,” Seth agreed dryly. “You almost done there?”

“Yeah,” he pulled the memory card out and replaced it in the phone. He handed the cell to Seth. “Good luck, Seth. I believe in you,” he said, meaning it.

Seth looked down at him. “You’re the only one who does, Frankie,” he said at last. “But I suppose that even having one person who believes in me helps.”

“I’d bet Elena would believe in you, too, if you explained to her what’s going on,” Frankie pointed out.

“Maybe. I guess I’ll tell her anyway, so she knows why I’ve been in such a crappy mood for the last few weeks. Anyway, thanks, Frankie. I’ll see you later,” he left the room, holding the cell phone in his hand.

Frankie watched him go, then shook his head. Poor Seth. Jordan was a real shit. But at the same time, Frankie could see why his friend was doing this to Seth - not just to be mean, but to test Seth. He knew that HE wouldn’t be able to stand having a boyfriend who catted around on him all the time. Hell, he even got jealous just because Caleb worked as the manager of a gay nightclub, and sometimes he imagined all of the hot guys in the place hitting on Caleb every night. It would be much, much worse if Caleb was a man-slut who couldn’t be trusted to keep it in his pants for any length of time.



“So how is my boy doing today?” Jordan asked Frankie.

He snorted. “About normal. Which means he’s going crazy and trying to take the rest of us with him. This has been the longest three weeks of my entire life. You owe me, Jordan,” he said, eyeing his friend with disfavor.

Jordan grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Frankie. But just think - your man-whore cousin has now officially gone without sex for over three whole weeks! Isn’t that amazing?”“Well, I find it more annoying than amazing, because a Seth who hasn’t had sex for over three weeks is a Seth that is almost impossible to live with. I don’t think that he could have done it if he didn’t hate you so much,” he went on, glancing at Jordan.

The actor’s smile widened. “He only thinks that he hates me,” he said with a wink for Frankie.

He sighed, but since that’s what he’d been thinking… “Anyway, here’s the photos from yesterday. Seth in the barn, NOT molesting the animals,” he said, turning the laptop screen so that Jordan could see it, “Seth shoveling snow, Seth fixing one of the gutters…”

“My, but he’s working hard lately,” Jordan noted thoughtfully.

“He’s working off his sexual frustration,” Frankie replied tartly.

“Mmm. And putting on some muscle, I see,” Jordan said lasciviously, eyeing a photo of Seth standing in the living room wearing only a t-shirt in the warmth of the house. “I like it.”

“I will,” Frankie shouldered his book bag and laptop case and left the student lounge, looking forward to his lunch with Caleb. And his ‘dessert’, too…he grinned to himself. Much as this last month had been pretty awful in one way, at least he’d been able to escape regularly and spend time with his boyfriend. And it was almost over…then Seth would go back to being laid regularly, and his mood was bound to improve. Besides, it would be kind of fun to watch how this thing between Jordan and Seth played out from here on in. it really was like some kind of soap opera, and like many a 60’s housewife, Frankie had always found himself being drawn into them in spite of himself. He didn’t have time to watch the real ones anymore, but this substitute looked to be almost as interesting…